Batman The worlds greatest detective
by Bomberff101
Summary: Gotham city is a place riddled with fear, crime and deception, but that will all change soon, because even criminals fear something...(NOT COMPLETE, just putting like that while it's on hold for my other projects, because I done want it deleted while I'm working.)
1. Chapter 1

**Cover picture - Jim Gordan standing with his gun drawn and a laser sight on his head with the shadow of Batman with his cape spread over them**

**Authors notes - Thanks for reading this story, I want to clear a few things up, firstly this is during Batman's first year, he hasn't met any "freaks" yet**, **secondly, Batman is wearing a dark grey costume with black gloves, boots and cowl and the yellow oval with the black bat-symbol on it, thirdly, Gordan is a mix between his comic book and Gary Oldman appearance** **and last but not least, Deadshot looks like his Arkham City appearance minus the Arkham uniform**, **i picked that version because i think thats the coolest version of him.**

Lightning flashed across the sky as two men ran up a back alley with bags of money on their backs. One of the men turned and looked back, then scanned the rooftops.  
"What're you doing?" the other man asked him, "we'll get caught if we hang about"  
"I'm looking for...you know...him"  
"Oh for crying out loud, he's not real, just a bedtime story told to scare us, but it doesn't scare me, now c'mon before the cops get her-AGH!" his partner turned to see the bag of money and a pistol laying on the floor.  
"Hey, where'd you go?" he spun around and fired a round into the shadows behind him. "I'm not scared of you!" he said, his hands shaking, his face terrified. He heard a noise right behind him and he slowly turned, he managed one last scream before the gloved hand clamped onto his face and his eyes rolled up into his head, "BAATMAAAAANN!"

**Chapter 1 - The cop, the marksman and the knight**

**Wayne Manor**

Alfred Pennyworth had been working for the Wayne family for years, and had become a father figure of sorts to master Bruce since master Thomas and mistress Martha...well, he thought as he looked at himself in the mirror, he felt like he had become a father figure, but to Bruce? He could never replace doctor Thomas Wayne of Wayne enterprises, head surgeon at Gotham general. Alfred looked himself over, his moustache would need a slight trim, and his hairline was receding at the top, his suit and bow-tie were in perfect place as usual. He picked up the silver try on the worktop beside him and started towards master Bruce's bedroom. He hesitated for a second then walked into the study at the opposite side of the corridor and pulled the secret lever behind the ancient grandfather clock. The glass plate slid away to reveal an elevator that he proceeded to step on and then it went down.

**4 miles below Wayne Manor**

The elevator came to a stop and Alfred stepped off of it and walked down the steps in front of him. He approached the door way and stopped in front of the retinal scanner, sighing, he stepped right up to it and stared into the depths of the machine.  
"Pennyworth, Alfred, clearance level alpha, you may proceed mister Pennyworth"  
"I should bloody well think I may proceed, I helped build the bloody place" he muttered to himself as he stepped through and looked down at the many levels of high-tech equipment he was faced with. There was cars with huge exhausts and fins, jet-ski's with missiles attached to the side and a huge cargo-plane sized jet hung from the ceiling. There was many large computer terminals and work benches, a row of glass cases with different variants of the same costume on them.  
"Breakfast master Bruce, and after that you can have some sleep." His employer smiled at him for a moment then picked up a mug and sipped his coffee.  
"Sorry Alfred, I must have lost track of time, just looking into this Waylon Jones' lizard research, fascinating stuff..."  
"I'm sure it is sir, but fascinating stuff does not have an appointment in half an hour at Wayne Enterprises" the older man commented dryly.

**Gotham shipyard**

Jim Gordon ducked behind a metal crate and looked over at the other members of the strike team and nodded before crouching down and running along the side of the crate. He looked up and saw the arm of a crane near their target building. He looked down just in time to duck as bullets sprayed in his direction. He quickly stood back up and fired a round from his pistol, but the gunner was to far away. He crouched down again as more shots passed overhead.  
"How are we gonna get this guy?" he wondered aloud as the other officers threw themselves to the ground.

**Wayne Enterprises - 10 hours later**

"And the fire fight still goes on as the GCPD try to find a path to the abandoned warehouse where the hired assassin known simply as Deadshot has been hiding out since he started killing in our city a few months ago-" Bruce Wayne stared at the television with interest, he had been hunting for this assassin for months, but could never find anything.  
"Well, aren't you going to go out there?" Bruce turned to see Lucius Fox, second in command of Wayne Enterprises, standing behind him half smiling.  
"It's not dark enough for me, plus if I did go out everyone would know I existed"  
"Fair enough mister Wayne, but remember, your supposed to be protecting innocent people from harm" with that he walked out of the room. Bruce considered that for a moment, he was a myth to those who hadn't met him, going to help would take away that advantage, but still, this fight had been going on for about ten hours now, the police would be getting tired and Jim Gordon had been the first to get shot at, and he was someone Batman wanted to make an alliance of some sort with him. Bruce shook his head for a moment then got up and headed for his private office.  
"No calls until I give you permission to give me calls." he said curtly to his secretary as he passed. He went to the bookcase behind his desk and pulled a book out of its slot, the bust of William Shakespeare's head opened and Bruce pressed the button that appeared there. The whole book-case slid to the side and he entered the small two-man chamber that now stood in the wall. The bookcase closed at the touch of the one of the buttons on the control panel. He touched another and the pod dropped down a hollow shaft he counted to ten from when he touched the button and pressed it again, the pod stopped and Bruce stepped out into an underground bunker.  
"Alfred I'm in bunker 3, I'm heading to meet this "Deadshot" and stop him" he spoke into the radio concealed in his watch as he approached the glass cases.  
"Very well sir, but remember, he is supposedly the worlds deadliest assassin who has never missed a shot"  
"He hasn't met me yet..."

The main part of the suit went on first, then the boots and the gloves, then the utility belt and lastly he fastened the long black cap and pulled up the cowl. He was no longer Bruce Wayne, millionaire play boy, he was the Batman.

**Gotham dockyard**

"Hey boss, we got a problem here, we can't get through the shots"

"Really Bullock? I never would have guessed" Gordan muttered to himself as he rolled out from behind the crate he was crouched behind and fired off a few rounds before ducking behind another crate. The shots knocked the label off of it and for a moment Gordan read it before exchanging fire with the gun man, thinking nothing of the label that read laughing gas, plant solution and custom question mark staff. He heard gasps from his teammates and Bullock said  
"Bloody hell!" and a shadow passed over him. He looked up and saw what appeared to be a giant bat flying above him, but then he saw the human face, or the lower half anyway, the top half of his face was covered in a mask with long ears sticking out from it.  
"What in the name of..." Gordon wondered aloud as it passed over head and landed on the roof of the warehouse.

**Warehouse 17 - roof**

"Alfred, I've managed to reach the roof of the warehouse, I'm breaking in now. He sprayed a tiny bit of gel onto one of the skylight locks and immediately it started to melt through. He quietly opened the window and dropped silently to the ground.  
"Heat vision activated" his computer AI Oracle spoke in his earpiece as he touched a button on the small control panel on his inner left wrist. He looked about the warehouse and spotted Deadshot almost immediately. He slowly descended the stairs from the top catwalk down to the next level. He approached his target from behind and was just about to grab him when he spun and fired a shot from each of his wrist mounted pistols into his chest. The armour kept the bullets back but he was still blown onto his back from the force.  
"So, your the mythological Batman" he loaned over and aimed one of his guns directly at his head.  
"If you can't even beat me, how do you think you'll beat the next one, cause I'm only the first...there a storm coming Bats, and Gotham will fall to the R-" he was cut off when Batman kicked both his feet into his stomach. He then did a backwards roll to get back on his feet and watched Deadshot retching as he grabbed the railing to stop him falling on his back. He aimed his right wrist gun but was stopped with a well aimed Batarang - a small flick out bat shaped boomerang - that sliced the weapon right off his wrist and returned to Batman's waiting hand. Deadshot grunted and aimed the other one, shooting the Batarang right out of his hand. Unfortunately Batman had another trick up his sleeve, he pulled out a small gun shaped thing with a claw at the end and fired t at the other weapon, yanking it off and over the edge of the catwalk.  
"Very clever Batman, but I never miss, NEVER!" he pulled his rifle from his back and Batman's knee gave way as the shot hit him in the weak joint between the top and lower les armour. He grabbed his leg to stop the bleeding and got a kick in the face for letting his guard down.  
"Now as I was saying, my boss is gonna take Gotham and plunge it into madness, and it's gonna be hysterical, his words, not mine. It's really a shame you won't be around to see it." He aimed the rifle at Batman's head and made to pull the trigger but he was cut off by a beeping in his ear piece. He listened for a moment them spoke to Batman.  
"Sorry mate, but I gotta run, maybe next time the boss will let me hurt you some more." He turned and leaped into the next catwalk as the GCPD stormed the building. They reached the second highest catwalk and found only a smal bat-shaped boomerang, two wrist mountable pistols and a small bit of black fabric.

Batman stood on the roof of a building near by, examining his wounds. He'd gotten several bruises and cuts, his worst was he was shot in the knee, he'd also lost a bit of his cape climbing out the window and a few holes in the suit. Other than that, he thought as he descended on his grapple-hook towards the jet-black car with large bat-wing shaped fins on the back, it was a pretty successful first encounter with an extraordinary criminal. What worried him the most though, was the mention of him working for someone with big plans for Gotham, and those plans probably weren't going to be good.

**Happy Land toy factory**

"I got most of the equipment you wanted boss, plus I managed to give Batman a few memorable scars."  
"Good Deadshot, you've done good unlike the other one" the man behind the desk gestured towards a crumpled heap in the corner.  
"You know, I think I'll teach this one a lesson personally" tue man got up and walked to a wall of weapons. "I know you like your guns but personally my favourite is the crowbar." he selected a long metal object with a curved bt at the top. "Now, forehand or backhand?" he asked as he approached the man in the corner. Deadshot watched in fascination as the man gave a maniacal shout as he repeatedly hit the other one.  
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

**Author notes**

**A bit short, but there you go, the first chapter in this fic, can anyone guess who the bad guy that hired Deadshot is? He said it "Gotham would fall to the R-" but it didn't seem like a villian beginning with "R" at the end though did it**,** next chapter coming soon, it will be a double parter with chapter 3**

**Chapter 2 - Happy holidays**

**Cover - A calender with all the special dates on it.**

**Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Happy holidays**

**Cover - A calender with all the special dates on it.**

**Please review!**

Author notes - Anyone notice the name of the AI last chapter? It's mentioned again this one too.

**4 miles below Wayne manor**

"We have reports of a bat like man flying through the air towards the warehouse that the fugitive Deadshot was hiding out in. Though unconfirmed, witnesses claim that the police found a small bat shaped sharp boomerang at the scene, now back to the studio." Bruce turned the tv screen built into the huge computer off and sighed. He knew that he would be noticed eventually but still he had hoped for more than 3 months before people discovered that Batman was real. He got up and moved to the display case that contained his suit from the night last week.  
"I'll have to repair that at some point..." he muttered to himself.  
"Yes master Bruce, but right now your late for the board meeting that started two hours ago."  
"What? Why didn't you warn me?" he ran up the stow to the lift and hit the button to lift him up to the manor.

**Wayne industries**

"Well, I move that we vote to kick Mr Wayne from the board."  
"Now hold on! We can't just kick Bruce Wayne from his own business" Lucius Fox sat and watched the other board members arguing about their boss's latest lateness. They all turned their heads to see Wayne run in straightening his tie and already opening his briefcase.  
"Ahh Mr Wayne, so nice of you to join us." Derek Powers said smugly.  
"Mr Powers, I understand you want to join our companies together?"  
"You understand correctly Wayne, though I'm not very impressed with the time keeping."  
"Sorry, I had a...late night yesterday, there was an event downtown I was attending." he thought back to last night where several thugs were found upside down outside GCPD headquarters.  
"Well I hope I'm making the right decision partnering with you and not Lexcorp."  
"I'm are you are, I'm sure you are..." one of the other board members interrupted just then.  
"Excuse me sir but we need to discuss preparations for the arrival of Haley's circus in 6 months time."  
"Ahh yes those Grayson's are quite marvellous, especially the boy Dick" another added.  
"Boy? He's turning 15 in a few months" Lucius told them.

**GCPD HQ**

Jim Gordon was up to his eyes in paperwork, trying to sort through this whole bat-man story plus coordinating the search for the sniper that got away and he had to be home before half six so he could have dinner with his family, 36 year old Barbara, 10 year old James and 14 year old Barbara junior, of course the kid hated being called that.  
"Sir? There's some sort of stand off at Gotham bank on Todd avenue"  
"Ok Get Bullock, I want the place cordoned off at Drake street and Brown gateway."  
"Yes sir!" the officer saluted and run down and hall. Gordon sighed, now he had yet another problem intervening with his family time.

**Gotham bank - Todd avenue office**

"Ahh St. David's day, what a lovely day." Said a slightly overweight man with the months of the year tattooed on his head, the man calling himself Calendar-man.  
"Aright pal, just let the hostages go and drop the money." the police had surround the bank and had their weapons out and ready. Calendar man ignored them and started chanting to himself.  
"30 days have September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31-AHH!" he screamed as two arrows were shot into his right arm. A woman in purple clothes with two small crossbows, a mask and a cape leapt down and fired two more arrows into each of his legs. He clutched at them as the blood slowly pooled around him and watched her slowly walk up the steps towards him, loading another arrow into each bow. She walked right up beside him and aimed at his head, at this range she wouldn't miss...unless she was hit in the arms by a pair of Batarangs, which is exactly what happened. She cried out in pain and rubbed her arms where the weapons had hit her as she watched them swing around and return to the thrower, a tall man in a grey and black costume with a cape and bat shaped cowl.  
"Batman..." she whispered as the whole street stared up at him.  
"I thought he was a myth..." she heard Calendar man mutter. She turned to him but realised to late that he'd crawled to one of her fallen crossbows and had aimed at her. He smiled.  
"Happy St. David's day!" he quipped and pulled the trigger. She fell to the floor barely conscious with an arrow sticking out of her stomach. He looked up and stared in horror as Batman landed on him and dispatched him with a quick punch to the side of the head. He walked quickly towards the downed woman and picked her up. He took out a small remote and pressed a button. He waited for a few seconds then outstretched his hand and grabbed onto a hanging rope that had descended from a jet-black plane and he lifted off from the ground holding her as they slowly were pulled in by a winch.

**The Batwing**

"Alfred, the police has Calendar man but I have his attacker, she's hurt pretty badly."  
"Very well sir, I shall prepare the medical bay." Bruce steered the jet towards the edge of town then into a hilly region before circling back and flying straight into a cliff face, passing through the projected image and into a tunnel twice as wide as the plane and out of it into the cave and steered towards a landing pad. He touched down lightly, opened the cockpit window, picked up the woman and ran to the med bay. Alfred stood waiting in his doctors coat and got to work as soon as she was set down. Bruce handed him a small eye mask then headed to the computer area. As soon as he sat down he looked up the two new ones, Julian Day, convicted for theft, imprisonment and murder. The woman on the other hand, apparently didn't have a real name, just known as the Huntress, hired assassin, last member of a mob family.  
"Now who would hire a mobsters daughter to kill a killer?"  
"There are no trace of any messages, letters, e-mails or contact of any kind that state if she was hired or did this herself. The AI Oracle informed him.  
"Hmm interesting..." he searched for mob families that had been killed in the last few years but a warning interrupted to tell him he was due to meet with Powers later in the afternoon.  
"It would seen you have lost the element of the unknown master Bruce" Alfred had walked up behind him.  
"Yes, but I had to show myself to stop Huntress from killing Day."  
"Speaking of Huntress, she will wake soon, do you want her to know what the cave looks like?" Bruce hesitated for a second.  
"No, I'll leave her at the GCPD building.

**GCPD HQ**

Jim Gordon was now up to his hairline in paperwork, having dinner with his family wasn't even an option anymore.  
"Uhh boss?" Bullock was standing in the doorway.  
"What is it?"  
"You gotta see this" Gordon got up and followed the overweight officer through the building, down the stairs and out the front door to see the purple-clad woman tied up, gagged and hanging from a rope tied to a lamppost. Gordon looked up and saw a bat-shaped plane fly off in the distance.

Gordon household

Midnight, that's the time he got in at, his wife was already asleep, so was Barbara Jnr, but little James was sitting in an armchair waiting.  
"James what're you doing up?"  
"I couldn't sleep daddy, I was worried about you..." Jim sighed, his son had been caught sleeping in class to many times to risk having more late nights.  
"C'mon son, let's get you to bed, I'm safe now anyway."  
"Goodnight daddy"  
"Goodnight...son"

**Author notes**

**A little longer I think, anyone get the references during Gordon's first scene? Plus Huntress was introduced, which I originally wasn't planning till later, I'm talking Nightwing and Oracle for a few years later, but yeah, also a mention of Haley's circus coming to Gotham soon, hmm plus Barbara Gordon was mentioned, she's obviously gonna play a big part later but not till after the circus, I have an idea for Robin's origins that's slightly different from most, but you'll find this all out later. Chapter 3 is almost completed so look out for that as well.**

**Chapter 3 - April Fools**  
**Cover - Calendar man's wanted poster with an arrow sticking out of the head.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – April Fools**  
**Cover – Calendar man's wanted poster with an arrow sticking out of the head.**

**Author Notes – This takes place around month after the end of the last chapter, I'm not sure of the exact date of St. David's day, just that it's near the start of March. I'm thinking of adding Robin in sooner than I expected, because I still need to have the whole mystery of who is Batgirl before they find out, all before the big bad guy is revealed. **

**Arkham Asylum **

Aaron Cash walked along a corridor in the high security building. He held a food tray in both hands and as he approached a cell he was intercepted by two other guards.  
"We'll take it from here sir." one of them said.  
"Alright then." he handed over the tray and headed back the way he had came.  
"Alright Day, stand back, it's dinner time." They punched in the code and pushed the tray through a slot that had opened in the door. They closed it  
and headed back to their posts. Two sharp sounds rang through the corridor and the guards were face down in a pool of their own blood.  
"Thanks for the code boys." Deadshot walked up to the doorway and copied the code he had seen the guards using. He pulled open the door and tossed the startled prisoner some clothes.  
"C'mon Day, the boss decided to give you a second chance."

**Wayne Manor **

"I hate this."  
"Yes master Bruce, you would rather be running around in your pyjamas than hosting a charitable ball.  
"Yes well I'm still looking for the mysterious boss Deadshot was working for- Hi how are you? Welcome- and I may have some evidence that points to Day working for the same boss." Just then a bald man in an expensive suit walked through the door with a tall woman who had long dark brown hair and eyes.  
"Mr Wayne" Lex Luthor greeted him "It was a pleasure to be invited, this is my assistant Talia Head."  
"Nice to meet you Talia, glad you could make it Lex."  
"Was that Derek Powers I saw? I need a quick word with him, if you'll excuse me, come along Talia."  
"Yes mr Luthor." she said and she gave Bruce one last look before she followed her employer.  
"Mr Wayne, I'm afraid I will need to leave early, there's been an break out at Arkham."  
"Really?"  
"Yes" Gordon said, "Calendar man has escaped."

**Gotham Cathedral – Bell tower**

Deadshot and Calendar man walked up to a computer and looked at the screen.  
"How long?"  
"An hour till it will be ready, then three more hours till midnight and it needs half an hour to prepare so we need to start it at 11:30 exactly."  
"You and your holidays, the boss would be happier if you could just kill whenever."  
"I kidnap people sometimes, then keep them till the next holiday."  
"Well I'll be sure to tell the boss that…"  
"Your leaving?"  
"I've got another one to recruit, I'll be away for a while trying to convince, I think I can get it to see the worthiness of our cause."  
"It?"  
"Well a ten foot tall guy with a horrible skin disease isn't really a 'him' is it?"

**Unknown building**

"I told you to kill him." Huntress was in the middle of being lectured by her employer.  
"I didn't expect Batman to be there, or be real for that matter."  
"I was told you were the best, apparently I was wrong."  
"Give me another chance."  
"No, I have already hired a new assassin, now leave, I need to meet with my planer to draw up the blueprints of this building."  
"I heard it was a club?"  
"A club yes, not as respectable as others."  
"You gotta name for it?"  
"Oh yes I was always fond of this one, 'The Iceberg Lounge'."

**The Cave**

Bruce had made his excuses and had managed to escape downstairs. He was currently examining the evidence left at the scene of the escape. All the evidence pointed to Deadshot and his 'mystery boss'.  
"How goes the search master Bruce?"  
"Not so well, I'll-"  
"No sir."  
"Excuse me?"  
"I said no sir, you cannot leave your guests."  
"Well you cannot keep your job if you do not follow orders."  
"And you cannot keep your identity a secret with a loose end like me about."  
"…touché."  
"So you will be returning upstairs?"  
"What do you think?" came the reply as he walked towards the glass cases containing his costumes.

**Arkham Asylum**

"Get me Bullock, I want every little detail scanned for DNA and I want the reports in half an hour!"  
"Yes Commissioner." Gordon looked around the room to see a shadow in the doorway.  
"The famous Batman I suppose."  
"Deadshot freed Day."  
"You have proof?"  
"I have evidence that points to them working for the same boss."  
"I'm going to look over the evidence, I'll contact you when I- how will I contact you?"  
"You still have that searchlight on top of the GCPD building?"  
"Yeah." He tossed him a Batarang.  
"You'll think of something."

**Gotham cathedral – 11:10**

"Soon….."

**GCPD HQ **

"C'mon theres gotta be something…"

**Gargoyle overlooking Crime Alley**

"Hurry it up Gordon…"

**Wayne Manor**

"Where did Bruce go?"  
"Maybe he ran off with one of the waitresses."

**Happy land toy factory**

"Right Day, you'd better have done this right, or you'll end up like poor Mothy…" the boss looked over at the crumpled heap on the floor as he tapped his bloodied crowbar against the desk.

**GCPD HQ – 11:20**

"You found something?"  
"Security footage showed Day and a masked man with a sniper rifle entering the old cathedral and the masked man leaving a while afterwards."  
"I'll check it out, nice idea, strapping the Batarang to the spotlight to create a signal for me."  
"It was basically yours, I just adapted it." he turned back around from turning off the light to realise Batman had disappeared.

**Midnight**

Gas canisters were launched up from the Gotham cathedral far above the city, detonating, causing the gas to float down on the citizens. There was a silence as the public looked on in wonder, then came the screams. People were writhing about on the streets, clawing at rashes that were blossoming all over their exposed skin. Cars started speeding towards the exits of the main city.

**The Cave**

Bruce exited the Batmobile and sprinted towards the costume racks. He grabbed one with shorter ears and reinforced armour. After changing he then turned back to the car and hit a certain switch on the control panel. The turntable the car rested on lowered into the ground and another descended from the ceiling with two motorbikes strapped to it. He hit another button, causing the bikes to lift from their sides to their wheels. Grabbing a helmet, he sat astride one of them and fired it up.  
"I see you chose the Batcycle sir."  
"Yeah, there's to much traffic to navigate the streets in a car and the gas would clog up the Batwing's turbines."  
"I see sir."

**Gotham cathedral**

Calendar man fiddled around with some controls then loaded another canister into a modified mortar cannon.

**Main street**

The Batcycle shot between two cars like a stone from a slingshot then used a small boost to jump over a Transit van. He skidded around a corner and avoided a Mini Cooper driven by a crazed woman desperate to get her children to safety. Batman could see the Cathedral spire over the roofs of some buildings. He turned into the road leading to it but was distracted by a woman in purple zip-lining towards the same building Bruce was driving towards.  
"Looks like Huntress escaped Blackgate quicker than I expected…" He didn't bother parking outside, he drove right into the doors and straight to the bottom of the stairs.  
"Most church-goers will be severely offended master Bruce."  
"I don't really care at the moment, I took this job to protect people, not to be liked by people." with the touch of a button, a long thin but strong wire with a claw on the end was fired up and gripped onto the top landing. Releasing the button sent him flying upwards, dragged by the line. At the top he hit another button and the claw opened and zoomed back inside the gun shaped hilt. He tossed an explosive Batarang at the locked trapdoor and used the smoke of the explosion to leap up and roll into the shadows. He was surprised at what he saw, Calendar man and Huntress both stood with a crossbow and automatic pistol pointed at each other respectively. They had looked over at the exploding trapdoor and Day took the chance to fire at her. His first mistake. She reacted quickly, rolling and firing a steel tipped arrow into the side of his gun, causing him to drop it and fall over. She loomed over him, aiming to kill, until a Batarang knocked the crossbow away.  
"Déjà vu."  
"No killing, not ever."  
"Really? And why should I listen to a word you say?"  
"Because I saved your life."  
"It's to late, his other assassin is on his way."  
"Who's other assassin?"  
"My employers."  
"Who's your-" He was cut off by a gunshot ripping through the the air and would have hit Day if Batman hadn't leapt in front of him, getting hit in the shoulder by the bullet. He fell to his knees for a moment before grabbing Day and rolling to the side with him, ducking behind the wall. He watched the would-be killer used the sane line as Huntress to zip across. Batman was surprised to see the assassin was a she, long light brown-blonde hair falling from behind her mask, but quickly scolded himself for his stereotypical thinking, reminding himself that Huntress was a woman. Speaking of Huntress, she had leapt out at the assassin and tackled her across the room. Batman noticed the assassins mask had been torn off and he briefly saw her face, the lenses in his cowl automatically scanning it and saving it. He threw a bola behind him without looking, it tangled around the escaping Calendar man and causing him to fall on his face. He rushed in and disarmed the woman, her pistol falling to the floor and firing a shot into the machine, making it fall out of the window and smashing on the street below.  
"No! Now the gas will dissipate…" Day started crying at that thought.  
"Will that stop the people from dying?"  
"No, only the spreading of the cure would have stopped it, but the machine was destroyed and I have the only cure."  
"This one?" he pulled a long tube from Day's bag.  
"Hey that's mi-uggghh…" he slumped down into unconsciousness as Bruce held his foot on his windpipe for a few seconds. He looked around to see Huntress going flying backwards into a wall and the assassin leaping out the window.  
"Sir the computers calculations state that there's half an hour before people start dying."  
"Ok Alfred." he looked over to see Huntress had disappeared as well. Picking up Day, he walked over and stepped off the edge of the trapdoor and fell feet first between the staircases, opening his cape at the last second to slow him down enough to not break his legs. He sat astride the bike and activated the Bat-computer terminal in it. He used a small tube with a nozzle on the end to suck in residue gas particles from his armour and bike and placed it in the scanner.  
"Possible cure can be completed in twenty minutes" Oracle told him.  
"Start making it." he switched to another screen that showed the dissipation of the gas over the city.  
"It will fully dissipate in twenty-five minutes…"

**Twenty minutes later**

"Cure complete"  
"Thanks Oracle, send the Wing over."  
"But sir…"  
"The gas has dissipated enough for a short flight over."  
"….yes sir."

**Five minutes before deadline**

"It's ready sir." Bruce was now sat in the pilot seat of the Batwing, now with a major upgrade, spray nozzles on the bottom. He activated the engines and gunned it out of the sheltered area and took off into the sky. He activated the sprayers, and as he soared above the city, the infected where cured and stood up and watched the plane fly over and away from the city…

**Arkham Asylum**

Hugo Strange sat behind his desk looking over the file of Julian Day. He was slightly annoyed that the police hadn't made an attempt to capture the Batman, they'd even made a Bat-signal to call him! But no….he'd bide his time for now….and soon he'd have a whole collection of villains in his care, his master had told him about the plague of villains coming to Gotham to distract Batman, and he would get to study all of the ones that Batman captured….yes…..yes…

**Author notes  
Good? Bad? Completely brilliant? So terrible you'd rather watch Batman and Robin a hundred times over than read this chapter again? Concerning the Batwing used in the last two chapters, it's not the cargo plane sized jet mentioned in the first cave scene, it's a bit like…picture the Quinn Jet from the Avengers movie in black with the Bat-symbol instead of the S.H.I.E.L.D logo. Sorta like that. I'm not to sure about the ending, Strange seemed a bit to…strange to me, but we find out that he seems to be working for the "mystery villain", plus the first version of the Bat-signal is introduced, tell me what you think about the idea for that. I do not own Batman or any related characters etc. Please review**

**Chapter 4 – Mad as a Hatter  
Cover – Mad Hatter's top hat sitting under a lamp**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Mad as a Hatter  
Cover – Mad Hatter's top hat sitting under a lamp

Author notes: I do not own any characters in the DC universe, apart from ones I make up but I'll tell you who I do when I do, this story….is getting darker from here on out. I. Mean. DARK. People are still ill from the virus last chapter, the mood on the whole is a lot darker, Bruce is really down because some people died before he could use the cure to stop the most serious cases. And crime has gotten up due to down trodden spirits from citizens. Also, sorry about the lateness of this chapter coming out, been busy preparing for other projects, not sure if I'll ever put those all up but it's possible after another twenty chapters of this or so. By the way in chapter 1, it says Waylon Jones' lizard research. It should say Kirk Langstrom's bat research but when I changed it it didn't actually change. Oh and this is about 3 months later, around mid-July, hint, Haley's circus arrives in October…

"Oh sh-" the thug went down before he could finish his sentence, closely followed by his two partners. He felt a hand grip his leg and suddenly he was flying upwards until he realised he was hanging upside down from a rooftop with only a black-gloved hand keeping him aloft.  
"Who are you working for?"  
"I'm not telling you." Big mistake. He screamed as he fell but a small metal claw grabbed his backside, yanking him back up just as he came within a metre of the ground.  
"I'll ask again, who are you working for?"

Mad as a Hatter

GCPD HQ

"Yo commish, I'm headin' out now."  
"Fine Flass you go out to the Iceberg lounge, I know what you do there."  
"Ya see commish, you really shouldn't talk to people like that, especially people with contacts such as myself." he walked out the door and Gordon opened the door to his office, not even blinking at the sight of Batman standing near the open window, he'd gotten used to his sudden appearances.  
"Trouble with some officers?"  
"Corruption" Gordon spat "There's hardly any decent cops left."  
"We need to include more people in our alliance."  
"Like who?"  
"The new DA, plus I've already recruited Lucius Fox from Wayne Enterprises."  
"You sure you want Dent?"  
Silence. Gordon turned to see a closed window and no Batman.  
"One day I'm gonna put super glue on the floor there.." he muttered to himself.

Wayne manor

For once master Bruce was in his bed when Alfred brought breakfast. In fact, he was sound asleep, which was very surprising, usually even after being out from ten pm till five am he still was wide awake. So Alfred left the tray on the bedside table and closed the door behind him as he headed to the grand dining room to polish the silverware, one of the perks of working in a house this big, there was always work to be done.

Disused warehouse

Jervis Tech stood silently watching his guards unload crate after crate of hats. He was startled out of his silence when a loud bang echoed through the room. He looked down to see one of the crates in splinters with it's contents scattered about.  
"Fools…" he muttered as he climbed down the ladders and stalked towards the culprit, who stood motionless watching the hats.  
"FOOLS!" he screamed at him and pulled the hat off the man.  
"Huh….where am I? What's going on?!" he looked around him at the other brainwashed guards then to Tech.  
"Y-you what did you-" he was cut off by Jervis smiling.  
"Relax, come have some tea in my office." he said to him, gesturing for him to follow. They walked into the office, and at once the man knew this guy was crazy. The walls were painted like a forest around them, one like a large White mansion, but in the middle was a long table covered in different tea party foods. He noted that in the other chairs there was stuffed animals from that book his mother had read to him as a kid….what was it? Oh yeah, Alice in Wonderland. There was the mouse, the rabbit and the Cheshire cat. Hadn't there been another though?  
"Sugar in your tea?" he was startled by the voice at the head of the table. The crazy guy had sat down and pulled a top hat over his greasy hair. The man hurriedly sat down and nodded. A few moments later he was passed a mug and stared at it.  
"Don't let it go cold, drink up drink up drink up!" the man took one little sip and immediately fell off the chair screaming. Outside the other men continued their work, oblivious to the load screaming and cackling laugh.

The cave

Bruce slammed his fist down into the console, then kicked his chair away. He then took a moment to breath deeply and settle down, back to work. He picked up the chair and slid down into it before scooting to the worktop that his cowl lay on. He had been installing some new tech when his hand had slipped against an exposed wire and gotten a shock. He finished up, carefully avoiding the wire then sealed up the side. He pulled it on and attached it to his cape.  
"Knight vision online." Oracle spoke into the earpiece connected to his wrist computer as a new set of lens slid down in front of his eyes causing the world to go into a dark shade of blue. He looked around at the display cases. A rifle he had taken from one of Deadshot's equipment drops showed up in a bright orange, with a box coming off from it reading the diagnostics of the gun. He turned towards the approaching footsteps and saw a baby blue skeleton walking towards him. He quickly switched back to normal and watched Alfred carry a tray over to him.  
"Some dinner sir?"  
"No thanks, I'm going out."  
"Of course you are…" the older man watched the closest thing he had to a family member walk towards his high tech car and enter, closing the canopy over him and speeding off down the entrance tunnel.

District Attorneys office

Harvey Dent sat looking through the files on several big time mob bosses that operated in Gotham. They had all been accused of doing a variety of criminal schemes, the only problem was that there was a few cops and jurors that seemed to think accepting money from the accused was perfectly acceptable. He looked up as Gordon entered the room.  
"He wants to meet you."  
"Hello Jim how've you been?" came the sarcastic supply.  
"I'm serious Dent, he wants you on our side when the gang wars start up again.  
"Was there ever any doubt I would be with you?" Jim smiled grimly at him as he picked up another file on the desk. His body language told Harvey that he wanted to know who it was.  
"That's Rachel Dawes, she lived here when she was small but moved with her mother after the Wayne murders. She's coming back as my assistant."  
"Can we trust her?"  
"Yes….I think"  
"You think?"  
"She'll be fine."  
"She'd better be, we don't need another corrupted official hanging out the Cobblepot's lounge every night after work."  
"Trust me, we won't have one."

Alley

"C'mon honey come and let us give you a ride."  
"No! Get away from me! OH GOD HELP!"  
"There's no one to hear you babe, just you and me."  
"And me." the woman turned around to see an empty street then looked up at the sky as the man hung there with a small device attached to him that sent up a bright signal into the sky. A large yellow oval with a black bat-shaped symbol in it. A bat-signal.

Dis-used warehouse

A red-headed teenager sat in a blue and white dress, tied to a chair in a freaky room with a picnic table and stuffed toys.  
"Hello!?" Barbara Gordon shouted as she struggled against the bonds.  
"Do he quiet Alice, now drink up your tea."  
"My name isn't Alice! And my dad is the police commissioner! You'll be getting sent to the madhouse with that other guy that was obsessed with dates!"  
"My dear Alice, I knew of dear deluded Day's plans, but when they failed, it was my time to shine." As Barbara continued to struggle, he walked over and stirred the contents of a china mug infront of her and lifted it to her mouth. He tried tipping it in but she sealed her mouth and shook her head violently. This continued for several moments before he grabbed her and forced it down her throat. She coughed and gasped as the burning hot liquid seared her body as it ran through her.

GCPD HQ

"They stood in Gordon's office. Harvey Dent, Lucius Fox, Batman stood next to the window as always, and Jim sat behind the desk with his head in his hands.  
"We'll get her Jim, don't worry, we'll find the son of a bitch that did this." Dent told him, looking at the others for support.  
"Yes Commissioner, I've just finished a prototype scanner that when a signal is sent to the satellite that now orbits the Earth, it can find the strongest area of a persons DNA." Lucius said. "And before you say wouldn't that lead to their house, it's designed to trace the persons heat signature as well, so we'll know where they are."  
"Is it able to work yet?" They all looked round, having forgotten that Batman was there.  
"It should, but there's bound to be some glitches."  
"Good enough." they looked over again to see that he'd disappeared again.

Author notes: I know it's short and took a while to do, I started this before I posted chapter 3. This is my least favourite chapter so far, it goes like treacle and isn't much action, but there you go. Rachel Dawes, Harvey Dent, small Bat-signals to let the police know where the criminals are, Barbara Gordon. The satellite idea came out of nowhere, I honestly have no idea what happened there, and it seems a little to good to be true. Anyway, until next time.

Chapter 5 – There's something about Alice  
Cover – Batman kneeling with distorted Alice in Wonderland characters grinning at him.


End file.
